“Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid-day sun.” Add Giants Defensive Linemen. Better have lots of those IVs ready at halftime. Will they be lucky enough to make it that far? These are the games where you love to have ALL of your linemen for rotation. For the Giants to be w/o two of them is nothing short of cruel… for the others that are left. This is where I get to segue to one of my favorite NFL video shorts, the one about Fran Tarkenton. When you get to the clip with Deacon Jones, you’ll understand. Merlin Olsen’s remarks weren’t bad either.

Back to this Sunday’s game, the Giants DL has my condolences. If they thought it was hot at the Palace in Dallas, wait’ll they get to Raymond James. Forecast- 89 degrees and a 40% chance of precipitation/scattered thunderstorms. Rain never sounded so good.

2) Garafolo is not sure how serious a shoulder injury is with Mario Manningham.

3) All injury issues aside, is there anyone in their right mind who could think that Hixon should be ahead of Manningham on the depth chart?

On Monday Russ drew extra attention to a comment by Raymond Sultan: “I think that making (Hixon) a kick return specialist and, for a while at least, only a situational receiver might actually really boost his confidence and get him back to a place where he’s a serious every-game difference-maker for the team.”Russ: “Brilliant! Sometimes we find our niche (like Joba Chamberlain when he was a reliever) and we don’t even know it. Time to resurrect the big-play Dominick.”

That is a really nice observation, Raymond. Simple and powerful. Hixon’s track record already shows him to be brittle anyway, so keep his plays down and he can come in and make some plays off the bench. And FOR GOODNESS SAKE, GET HIM BACK THERE RETURNING KICKOFFS PLEEEEEEZE! I do not know what was more insane, the Miami dive on 3rd down or (the emperor not having any clothes and) not having Hixon on kickoff duty. Frightening. Absolutely frightening.

4) Want a rookie LBer? Maualuga and former USC teammate Cushing have 4 starts, 30 tackles, a sack and 2 forced fumbles between them. Good thing these guys are only rookies.

5) They have these Weekly Power Ratings and they are mostly as useful as toilet paper. This week is no exception. Having the Ravens as the #1 team after beating two AFC West teams is a joke. Yes, beating the Chargers in SD is respectable, but let’s face it, it is Norv Turner. And Norv Turner is the same retread loser (think: Wade Phillips) we saw in other hotspots like Washington and Oakland. He is 78-96-1 in his career. My apologies in advance to Charger fans and Ravens fans, but there has to be more to it than that. The fact that they can have the Giants #2 is another joke. Not at the Giants or at #2, but the whole exercise is flawed because there are too few data points to even know enough about the team. I would classify many of the commenters on this site as extremely knowledgeable about this team and all of us would to a man agree that there are still so many issues and variables that remain to be settled before we can anoint this team. Health? Defense? Gilbride? Red zone? Short yardage? SHERIDAN? Special teams on kickoffs? To see the Giants even ranked is a joke- it should be “I,” as in INCOMPLETE. To be determined. Needs more games. Right now you could put the Giants #1 or put them #10 and I could make arguments for either. Which is why this Weekly ranking system this early is … toilet paper.

6) Nobody asked me, but I’ll tell you anyway.. the two teams at this moment who are impressive are the Saints and Jets. Brees has the same potent offense with a little more defense. And the Jets have given up spit on defense this year. It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. Those two teams (and of course the Giants, to name just three) have the raw material to be contenders down the stretch. There is so much football to be played, let’s try to figure out who is even DRESSING this weekend! G-I-L-F!

7) Toni Monkovic of The Fifth Down asks for ideas or solutions for freezing of kickers with a few seconds left. Leave it alone, it serves one good purpose.. it is very good at identifying the loser head coaches who are desperate enough to be grasping at straws.

1) Wonder is getting out the message: “These General Managers and Directors of Player Personnel are simply not ready” for the new time rules that govern this draft. All you have to do is listen to Wonder speak for ~ 2 minutes on the topic to understand why. Your ear goes numb as he rips off 85 things that these GMs have not anticipated. He starts rattling off scenarios at who is available at draft pick #X for team A and then by implication who should be talking to who on Thursday, NOT Friday, and certainly not Saturday when it is TOO LATE. These guys are unprepared. When you think of the myriad angles to plan for, it is very clear these organizations have not planned for them. And now it goes to 10 minutes.

2) Wonder philosophy: (a) he gets a significant amount of his opinion from film (b) he is a VALUE guy. If he knows the consensus #93 pick in the draft is a Future Hall of Famer, he will still go apes**t if HIS team takes him with the 36th pick. “These people do not understand the draft,” says Wonder. “You must pick players you like when appropriate, not just because you like them. Not picking for value is easily the most common draft mistake.”

3) On Cornerbacks: “Revis and Ross are what the new NFL is all about. Press coverage, bump and run, tackling, bigger and stronger guys.”

4) On judging a draft: “You need at least 3 years to judge a draft. Obviously more for a QB. Bryant may be the best NT in this draft and we will need 3 years to judge him. For MLB and RB, all you need is 1 year… either they are good in Year 1 or they don’t have it.”

5) On the draft/coaches dynamic: “There is a sleeper NT Frank Okum (Texas) who will go in the 5th or 6th Round. He has talent, but was out of shape at the Combine. If he loses 30 lbs. and hits the weight room he could be terrific. If he is taken by a softie like Herm Edwards he’ll last 3 days and be out of the league.”

6) On rules changes: “The NFL is so cheap.. no 60 year old refs. This ‘force out’ rule is going to be a nightmare. This covers up pathetic refs who cannot rule on a WR being out or not. The new rule will encourage safeties to drive receivers out of the field of play. Insane. And the ‘icing the kicker’ is ridiculous and should be banned.”

7) On spygate: “Goodell was a moron. Image is everything. The league was made to look very bad. The Patriots should have lost the higher of the 49er/NE #1 pick, so here they are still picking #7.”

8) On rookie salaries: Something must be done about rookie salaries in the Top 10 draft picks, because it is ruining the balance that once existed to help weaker teams get first crack at the best talent. Now they have to pay them an exorbitant amount of money, hurting their cap and making it harder for them to KEEP the successful veterans they need on their roster to be competitive. Of course Wonder has a plan for how to bring it all back in line, but if Gene Upshaw and the Players Union continue to be mindless then none of it really matters.